A Quartzsite Day

Boondocking in the desert with nothing but the stars all around! Isn’t that the great RVer’s dream? 

Except that three and a half years into RV ownership, we know now that we are not boondockers. So no, that is not our RV in the picture at the top of the page. We may boondock (stay self-contained in an RV or van with no connection to electric, water or sewer) for an occasional night at a winery or other such idyllic enterprise, and even that throws Cal into a frenzy of planning: checking out the generator, filling up with fresh water, and whatever else might have to be prepared. Having hookups for our RV home makes life easier and everyone happier. I booked us into an RV park thirteen miles down the road in Brenda, Arizona.

In the months of January and February, Quartzsite, Arizona is a boondocker’s mecca. It is a little town with a population of 2,413 which swells during these months. The place attracts all types of RVers, drawn by the warm weather and sunny skies. The area is surrounded by miles of government Bureau of Land Management desert, which is free and open for people to set up camp if they are willing to tent or boondock . It is also called “dispersed camping”.  

It’s not just the boondocking experience here that draws everyone. At various times throughout these months, the town hosts a large RV show, several rock and gem shows and the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, which is an annual gathering for van dwellers.

Our first stop for our day in Quartzsite was to pay homage to Hi Jolly. One hundred and twenty two years after his death, he is still a larger-than-life personality.

Hi Jolly originally had two names: Philip Tedro and Hadji Ali. He was brought here from the Middle East with a group of camels as part of a failed US Army experiment to use camels for cargo transport across the southwest desert. The camels terrified the accompanying burros and horses, the Civil War broke out, and funding for the project dried up. Hi Jolly had several other enterprises throughout his life and made his home in Quartzsite.

If you didn’t know this story, you would wonder why so many businesses in Quartzsite are named “Hi Jolly” and why there are camels decorating everything in town, including the welcome sign.

The reason why we were in Quartzsite this particular week was for the RV show. While many RV shows are understandably only about the RV’s, Quartzsite’s is more about the “stuff”. We wanted to see what it was all about.

The show is free, and right away when coming in, there is a huge vendor tent. 

There area vendors for RV accessories, RV parks and resorts, and all kinds of other stuff both RV and not RV related. It reminded me just a bit of the vendor tents I’ve seen at state fairs. Cal was a little disappointed to not see vendors with more useful stuff for the RV or people to answer particular questions that he had. 

We were taken in by this vendor. You can make toasty grilled cheese sandwiches in only three minutes in the microwave!

We purchased it, and have since tried it, and–it’s great! I think it will be handy when we have the grandkids over for lunch this summer.

Outside of the tent, there are around 200 RV’s to be seen. Of course, we are most interested in the Montanas, because that is what we own.

There is a new 2024 Montana with an ebike compartment that we’ve heard about, and would have liked to see it. But that RV is too new for this show. We did enjoy looking at the various Montana models, including a newer version of our own.

It was also interesting going into some of the RVs that we’ve seen in RV parks. The Voltage at right in the picture below is called a “toy hauler”. The back flips down, and there is space to store a motorcycle or an ATV. Many people convert these to an extra bedroom or office. The RVs where Cal is standing are all 5th wheels.

We stepped into many, many RVs. In the end, we concluded that we still like ours best.

After we finished with the RV area, we walked across the street and discovered acres more of vendors, mostly selling crafts but also related RV supplies. We’d been at the show for four and a half hours, including a break back in the truck for lunch. Enough! Our feet were tired.

We were here on this particular day not only for the RV show but also to go to a party. We are members of an RV club called Escapees. There are many good aspects to having a membership with them, the most important for us being a mail center which holds and sends us our mail. On this day, they were having a gathering far out in the desert. 

There was music, free hotdogs, and some information tables. After awhile, though, I got up to take a walk down the BLM road to further check out the boondocking scene.

Many boondockers huddle in groups like this. Some are organizations that are having a gathering, and some are just people who know each other. And maybe some people feel that there’s safety in numbers. It looks too much like being in an RV park to me. Boondockers also tend to converge close to a main road.

I took this picture because the RV is a Montana. But you can see another boondocker close by. Do they know each other? If I was boondocking, I would not want someone even this close to me unless I knew them. To me, that is the magic of boondocking – to be out there all on your own.

As much as I’m attracted to the idea of boondocking, I think that the reality might not be quite so fun. So we headed back to our RV park in Brenda where the desert and mountain views were every bit as spectacular. We just had to walk behind the park to get to them.

Next time – we visit a ghost town